Bob Crum

Will this be my last Focus on Photography column? It's up to you!

If you find value in the Focus on Photography column, and you wish to see it continue, I need to know this and I need to hear it now. Don't delay - write today!!! This column's life is in your hands. In your email type "Keep Writing" in the subject line. Comments optional. Thank you!

Including this one, I have written 185 consecutive columns published here in the Fillmore Gazette. No repeats! I'm proud of my accomplishment. And profoundly grateful for the publisher who provided the space for my column every week and for posting online. I also appreciate the Gazette staff for making sure I didn't go off the rails, something I can easily do. And to my readers: Thank you!

Writing about technical photography tips and techniques, and some of my experiences in the field has been both a challenge and a daunting task. Some wanted more technical info, and others wanted more experiences told. Some wanted camera reviews, and others wanted to know how I light for Mermaid boudoir photoshoots. How to accommodate everyone's expectations proved to be a weekly hair-pulling exercise.

As I often wrote, photography motivated me to visit places that I might not have otherwise visited. Example, Mono Lake with notorious tufas, interesting lake bottom projections. Fields of poppies in the Antelope Valley. Eagle Falls at Lake Tahoe. Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef National Parks in Utah. And many, many other fantabulous photogenic landscape scenes. The intention has been that readers might get inspired and motivated to go out and about to enjoy (and photograph) our country's fantabulous landscapes. And know how to program their camera to capture the desired photo.

Now, however, I am experiencing gradually worsening health. Respiratory issues include COPD and a mass located in my left lung. Hence, I now have to be tethered to supplemental oxygen 24/7. At home, an oxygen concentrator runs continuously and for necessary trips out and about, a portable unit oxygen concentrator. I also have cylinders (tanks) of oxygen in case the electric goes off. I cannot perform even small tasks without my SPO2 (blood/oxygen level) dropping precipitously. So I'm considering taking a break for maybe 35 years or so. Furthermore, with COVID-19 still on a rampage, my pulmonologist admonished me to shelter in place because of my extreme vulnerability.

Because of my extremely limited physical abilities, I have to have a caregiver to assist with many tasks that I can no longer accomplish on my own. For grocery and drug store runs or other miscellaneous errands, friends are blessings! But not being able to go out and about is frustrating. But I digress.

Photography remains robust but only for a limited number of genuine enthusiasts and professional photographers. Cameras remain the go-to tool for greater latitude over capturing the desired photograph. However, in the year 2020, it's obvious that almost everyone has an omnipresent and ubiquitous cellphone. Thus, a herd of phonetographers roams the planet!

Photography vs. phonetography begets questions: Is my column Focus on Photography still relevant? Is my column being received by indifferent or uninterested eyes? Does my column serve a useful purpose?

Again, if you find value in the Focus on Photography column, and you wish to see it continue, don’t delay - write today!!! In your email type "Keep Writing" in the subject line.

Photo of the Week is again from the archives, a photo of one of many arches in Arches National Park, Utah.

Send email to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net